As a business owner, you are probably familiar with a VPN or virtual private network. They are commonly used to help secure corporate networks and prevent sensitive correspondence from falling into the wrong hands. VPNs work by routing web traffic through an encrypted “Tunnel” that prevents third parties from accessing your information or location.
For many business owners, VPNs seem like more of a luxury than a necessity. However, after spending years in the game of corporate communication and information, I can promise you that a VPN is essential for your company’s success and survival in our rapidly evolving world.
Here are a few reasons that you should you should secure your company’s information with a VPN.
1. A VPN Protects Sensitive Correspondence
One of the most important reasons to use a VPN service is to protect your business’s sensitive correspondence from falling into the hands of hackers or your competition. If you have a team of location independent employees or employ individuals who are required to travel on a regular basis, this is doubly important. Even something as simple as an employee checking their email via an unsecured coffee shop network could put you and your entire company at risk. By using a high-quality VPN service, your employees can connect to the company network and rest assured that any information they are accessing or sharing is completely secure.
2. A VPN Can Prevent Cybercrimes and Data Leaks
The rate of cyber terrorism is rapidly rising. With companies like Yahoo and Equifax suffering from crippling breaches that compromised the sensitive data of millions of customers, it’s more important now than ever before that you and your company take the topic of cyber security seriously. This starts by having each of your employees install and use a quality VPN provider (not all of them are made equally). I also recommend installing anti-malware services and changing your passwords on a regular basis.
3. A VPN Allows Your Employees to Travel without Worry
The internet is not the same in other countries. There are a number of websites and services that are geo-restricted depending on the location of your connection. If your company has employees who travel internationally, this can pose a huge problem. Afterall, it’s difficult to have a productive trip abroad if you can’t connect to the websites that you need for work! A VPN allows your employees to connect to local networks from other countries and bypass georestricted content and websites.
4. A VPN Creates a Safe Browsing Experience for Your Customers
If you own a brick and mortar store with public Wifi access, it’s important that you monitor the security of the network and prevent your customer’s information from being stolen. Luckily, there are a number of different VPN services that you can install directly to your building’s router. This is a great way to earn your client’s trust and make them feeler safer and more secure when spending time at your store.
5. A VPN Instills Confidence in Your Customer Base
With the recent Equifax breach among many others, customers are starting to place less and less faith in corporations. As a result, they are less willing to part with their sensitive personal data making it difficult to effectively do business and expand your client base. A VPN can provide the perfect solution to this problem. When customers see that you are taking the initiative to keep your data and, by extension, their data secured, they will be much more likely to trust you with their business. Setting up a VPN is an easy way to earn new customer’s business and stand a few inches taller than your competitors.
6. A VPN Allows for Location Based Testing
Many online businesses forget that the results of their products and services may vary depending on the location from which their customers are browsing. For example, Amazon.com changes its prices and interface based on the location from which you are viewing the website. Google also changes the specific search results that are generated depending on the country, state, and even county from which you are browsing.
A VPN service allows you to test your sites from a different IP address so that it appears like you are browsing from a different location. This allows you to ensure that all of your location-based services are working properly.
7. VPNs are Becoming Increasingly Affordable
As the demand for VPN services continues to grow the competitive market is becoming more and more affordable for small and medium business owners. There are dozens of high-quality VPN providers that you can find who will offer significant discounts to entrepreneurs and small businesses. This makes purchasing a VPN service a complete no-brainer.
8. VPNs Encourage productivity
When employees are constantly concerned about the safety of their online experience, it can be a massive hindrance to productivity and company-wide success. By providing your employees with a high-quality VPN they will be able to safely surf and accomplish their goals from anywhere in the world.
Which VPN is Right for You?
Although there are a number of high-quality VPNs that you and your company can use, at QTS we exclusively use Juniper. Juniper is a world wide leader in Security and Virtual Private Networking(VPN) applications and appliances. QTS specializes in Netscreen Series Security Systems, SSG Series Secure Services Gateways and SA Series SSL VPN Appliances.
QTS can help your Colorado business ensure that your network is safe and secure from outside threats and breeches. Always guarantee mobile and virtual employees have secure access to your business network’s resources with Junipers VPN family of products. Juniper offers a wide line of security and VPN applications and appliances to meet the needs of any business from small to enterprise.
Conclusion
There you have it! The 8 reasons why every local Colorado business needs to be using a VPN service to protect their sensitive information. As always if you have any questions or concerns please feel free to reach out to us and we will do our best to assist you in creating the perfect data solutions for you and your brand.